Stars, scalpels and secrets
by Daze243
Summary: AU. Jane is a soldier and Maura is an E.R doctor. Maura doesn't share something vital with Jane before the two get involved as they try to resolve each other's issues.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was making this very difficult. The air was heavy and left a metallic taste in the mouth. Progress was slow as the soldiers patrolled the small village, the brightness of early afternoon reflected off the sand causing a shimmering oasis on the road ahead.

Sgt. Jane Rizzoli led her unit through the street, well it wasn't much of a street more of a dirt track scarred from past explosions. She was exhausted, her men were moaning; lack of food and sleep probably. Sure she was ravenous and her feet were killing her but secretly she wouldn't change anything. This is where she was meant to be, doing good.

After her short inner monologue she focused on the task at hand. The village seemed to be abandoned they hadn't seen a soul for hours. This worried Jane, a week ago there were people living in these houses and kids playing in the street.

The hairs on the back of Janes neck pricked up suddenly and a chill ran down her spine, despite the intense heat. Her instincts were screaming for her to turn around, she stopped abruptly causing a congestion of men behind her. There were murmurs of concern as everyone braced themselves.

Janes head snapped up to a nearby rooftop, she was sure she had seen something. A flash of light like a reflection from a mirror or a bobbing head maybe. Then she started noticing other out of place things. A motorbike propped up against a wall, a door ajar.

That's when she heard it, a whistling that was all too familiar. Jane was turning before she even realised, shouting for her men to take cover as she ushered them to a nearby house. She was still moving when the explosion knocked her forward into the man in front of her. Jane felt the rubble hit her helmet and pack and the cloud of dust enveloped everything.

Something made Jane stop dead, she almost didn't want to look she knew what she would see. It was a young private, he had fallen out in the open, she could just make his outline through the cloud. Jane was torn, she had to do something but what?

She answered her own question with actions. Jane was crouched behind an abandoned car before she realised and at the mans side before she knew it. He was almost shivering, she noted bloody wounds running down his right side. She didn't linger, grabbing his body armour at the shoulder and heaving him towards the others.

Luckily, another member of her squad came to her aid. The guy she was dragging was heavy and her sweaty hand was slipping. Jane released him and covered the entrance to the house, they had to go on the offensive. She scanned the street, there was no one there. Where was all this coming from?

Her gaze returned to the roof and that's when everything slowed. Jane could hear her heart beat in her ears and the dust stick in her throat. There was something on the roof. It was a man with a gun and it was aimed directly at Jane.

She didn't have time to think or move. Jane heard the gun go off and felt the impact, it knocked her off her feet. She saw faces above her and muffled shouting over the ringing in her ears. Her vision began to narrow, the edges blackened and jane could not keep her eyes open any longer.

1 month later.

"Sorry... What did you say?", Maura hoped she had misheard him.

"I said, will you marry me?", John was knelt before her in the middle of the restaurant. Her mother sat to her left, tears in her eyes and her hand clasped to her mouth.

Maura was speechless, she could feel the hives beginning to itch. She felt light headed, this isn't what she wanted to happen tonight. Maura wanted to make it through dinner with minimal embarrassment and aggravation.

Suddenly she realised she had not spoken for a few minutes, John was still staring at her with expectant hope. She couldn't bring herself to say no but she couldn't bring herself to say yes either.

"John, I wasn't expecting this", he stood abruptly with a beaming smile. Clearly he had interpreted what she had just said as a yes.

"Oh this is such good news, I will call your father immediately", Maura's mother rushed off cellphone in hand.

John had slipped the ring on Maura's finger, it felt oddly heavy and tight.

"Thank you Maura, you've made me the happiest man alive", she almost cringed at his excitement. She had to excuse herself and sort her head out.

The safety of the street outside was a comfort as she routed in her handbag for her phone. Susie Chang was her first port of call. Her trusty best friend would be sure to calm her down. The phone felt like it was ringing for an eternity before she answered.

"I thought you were never going to answer, Susie!", Maura didn't mean to sound so excitable.

"Woah, calm down Maura. What's going on?", Maura could hear the hustle and bustle of the emergency department in the background.

"He proposed and I'm getting married", there was a moment of silence before Susie replied.

"Oh, what did you say?", Maura almost smiled. Susie knew her so well.

"Well I didn't say yes but the rings on my finger", she could hear Susie exhale probably realising this was going to be a long few months.

" I'll tell you what, in a few minutes I'm going to beep you with an emergency", Maura chuckled.

"But I can't go home what about John?"

"Well you could come here, we're really slammed tonight", Susie had thought this through.

"Fine, but only for a few hours", Maura ended the call quickly and rejoined her mother and 'fiancé'.

"Your father sends his love. He suggested we have the wedding somewhere tropical, like the Bahamas", her mother was clearly enjoying herself.

The minutes ticked by slowly as an awkward silence descended. Maura realised she hadn't really said anything since it happened.

"We've only just got engaged mother, there's plenty of time", she didn't mean to sound quite so angry as she spoke. The vibration in her pocket made her jump up and suppress a smile.

"Not tonight Maura, we're supposed to be celebrating", John knew instantly what was up.

"I'm sorry it's 911, I've got to go", Maura quickly kissed him on the cheek before shouting a brief goodbye to her mother. She was out in the street hailing a cab in a matter of seconds.

The quiet of the cab gave her time to think. She knew deep down she did not want to get married, but was that because of John? Recently, Maura had been thinking about something else. Another possible reason she didn't want to marry John, a reason she wasn't quite ready to face yet.


	2. Chapter 2

Maura had been engaged for a few weeks now and each day she spent trying to avoid the subject. Sadly today that was unavoidable, her mother was round having dinner. The past few hours had been extremely awkward, how John had not noticed her aversion to the topic of their wedding.

"Maura, are you listening?", her mother had been chatting on for a few minutes now and Maura had switched off.

"Sorry, what did you say?", Maura feigned interest.

"I was saying that we should start thinking about your dress", her mother was very excited about all this. Maura almost felt bad about hating every second they spoke about this.

"Sure, what did you have in mind?", Maura made idle conversation. Only a few more hours and she could sleep, ready for a long shift tomorrow at the hospital. The thought made her smile.

"Well we could go shopping whilst I'm still in town, get an idea of what's out there. Maybe your friend from work can come, I assume she will be one of your bridesmaids so she will need a dress as well", her mother had clearly got her own vision of what this wedding would be like.

"Sure okay", Maura returned her attention to her dinner, she spent the next hour pushing the remnants of her main course and then dessert round her plate.

Finally, her mother left and John busied himself cleaning up plates. Maura idly cleared away the table clothe and place mats. Suddenly her attention was drawn to a light on in the house across the street. Maura had lived here with John for the past two years and the house in question had been empty the whole time.

She crossed the room to the window and decided to be nosy. The curtains were closed to her dismay. Maura was sure she had never seen the car parked on he drive before. She was just about to give up when the front door opened. Maura repositioned herself, she wasn't exactly being subtle standing in the middle of the window.

It was a woman, Maura didn't know why but the second she saw her in the dim light of the street lamp she felt her stomach twinge and her heart sink just a bit. The woman had dark high, tied back in a messy ponytail. She was carrying a trash bag pretty slowly giving Maura time to see her properly. She looked almost Italian and Maura wagered with herself the woman's eyes were a deep brown.

Suddenly, Maura was brought out of her trance by Johns arm wrapping around her waist. She didn't pull away this time it would mean losing sight of the mystery woman across the road. John joined her at the window.

"Oh my god, Janes back!", Maura jumped. John had lived here long before Maura moved in.

"Who's jane?", Maura didn't want to sound too interested. She focused her attention back on Jane, she was walking back to the house now so Maura took the opportunity to move away from John.

"She's lived across the street for years. She's rarely ever there though", John closed the curtains and began turning off lights.

"How come?", Maura turned on the TV and got comfy on the couch. She was hoping John would go to bed before her, she wanted some time alone.

"She's in the army", Maura was surprised by this. Well even through baggy clothes Maura could tell she was athletic.

"Oh really?", John didn't answer instead he vanished off into the kitchen. She could hear the running water and smiled. He always took a drink to bed with him. Maura heard him coming back so focused intently on some poorly shot document about American prisons.

"I'm going to bed, don't stay up too late", he climbed the stairs leaving her I peace finally.

Well it only took a few minutes before her mind began to race. This woman had caused her to have a very peculiar reaction, one she had had before when confronted with a woman as attractive as Jane.

Why was she thinking these things? She was getting married. To a great guy who was smart and really seemed to care about her. This made Maura pause. Was that all she could say about a man she had been with for three years? That was a troubling thought. She really didn't want to hurt John but this wedding was too much to take right now.

Before she knew it the sun was shining under the curtain and the Tv was on standby. There was nothing quite the panic of sleeping late to get Maura moving in the morning. The couch had left her with a stuff neck and a serious hair situation.

Fifteen minutes later Maura was sprinting to her car, not without a quick look across the street but with no evidence of an early rising Neighbour she sped away.

The day was dragging surprisingly. Maura was slammed but each case was quick and simple. She took the brief break to catch up with Susie.

"So this whole wedding thing is going ahead", Susie sounded skeptical.

"Yep it seems so. You're going to be a bridesmaid by the way", Maura joked.

"I'm going to give you a bit of advice. You need to seriously think about what you want because you are going to end up really unhappy", Maura knew she was right but there was so much other stuff she wasn't ready to contend with.

"Hey something happened last night I think I should talk about", Susie looked intrigued. It was time to get back to work. They grabbed a patient form each and headed towards the cubicles. " I saw this woman move in across the street and i felt weird".

"What do you mean?", Susie glanced down at her next patients information. "I'll swap you blown stitches for whatever you've got? I've done like five of these today", Maura swapped without a second thought and quickly answered Susie.

"She was just taking the trash out and she looked good and...", Maura paused as she drew the curtain back. She wasn't expecting to see the very woman she was describing to Susie.

"Tell me later, good luck", Just like that Susie was gone; leaving Maura to stare speechless.

She quickly remembered her place, glancing down at the form before her she finally addressed her patient.

"J-jane Rizzoli?"

"Yep that's me"

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	3. Chapter 3

Maura was very aware of the awkward silence that had fallen since Jane Rizzoli had last spoken but she couldn't bring herself to speak.

"So should I explain why I'm here?", Jane looked concerned almost which was warranted considering Maura had been staring at her mouth agape for at least a minute now.

"Sorry, it's been a long shift. I see here you have tore some stitches?", Maura quickly flicked back and forth in her notes trying not to make eye contact.

"Yep. They've been in a few weeks", Maura could see jane removing her coat.

"That's a long time to have stitches in", Maura pulled on a set of gloves and retrieved a basic wound and suture kit from a nearby store cupboard. She stopped dead when she returned, Jane was down to her vest and Maura was feeling oddly flushed. What was going on with her? She never had this much trouble concentrating not even after a 48 hour shift. When Maura had remembered why she was here with jane, her focus shifted to the slightly bloody bandage applied to her patients shoulder.

"It was quite an extensive repair job on my shoulder, the doctor said I should come by a local hospital to have the stitches out but I never got round to it", Jane seemed perfectly relaxed as Maura got to work. She slowly removed the bandage and immediately realised this wasn't a simple laceration or incision from a surgery. The wound was ragged and raw And much to Maura's surprise was mirrored on janes back.

"Wow, what happened?", Maura caught herself before she carried on questioning the woman who was supposed to be her patient.

"I was shot", Maura sensed something as Jane spoke. She felt Jane tense up beneath her hands as they worked to clean the newly opened wounds.

"Sorry, you don't have to tell me", Maura tried to work faster. She was beginning to worry her flustered appearance would give away the thoughts she was currently having.

"It's okay. I was shot whilst on patrol in Afghanistan", Jane was more relaxed now. Maura was nearly finished but now she wished she hadn't rushed, a few minutes with Jane would have been perfect and she sensed this woman had a much more interesting story to tell.

"That's a nice name", Maura nearly jumped as Jane spoke for the first time in a few minutes.

"Pardon?", Maura slowed right up now; double and treble checking her work.

"Maura, it's a nice name", Jane looked directly at Maura for the first time. She realised she was right about Janes eyes, they were a deep chocolate.

"Th-thank you, Jane is nice too", Maura almost cursed when she realised what she said. Usually she was good at talking to people in a professional capacity but this was getting ridiculous. The two Maintained eye contact for a second longer than necessary before the atmosphere between them was rudely broken by a ringing cellphone.

"Oh my god, sorry I completely forgot it was on", Jane struggled to move across the bed to her grab the phone from her coat pocket. Maura beat her too it, she hated to watch jane struggle.

"It's Frankie... Oops sorry", Maura couldn't believe what she had just done. Jane took the phone with a smile.

"Is it okay if I answer? I thought there were rules about this kind of thing", Jane smirked and Maura couldn't help but smile whilst applying a clean dressing to both wounds.

"Well technically It is against the rules but I won't tell anyone", Maura smiled to herself; she handled that bit pretty well.

"Hey Frankie... Nope I'm not busy tonight... Sure, nine o'clock?... The dirty robber... Okay bye", Jane hung up abruptly; Maura busied herself again after eavesdropping on Janes conversation. "Sorry about that", Jane began moving to get dressed again.

"It's okay, so I've dressed the wounds. They didn't need suturing I don't think. Maybe come back in a week and I'll have another look for you, but try to keep the dressing dry for a day or two", Maura was sad their encounter was at an end. Over the past half an hour she had gone from blind panic to nervousness but that soon subsided to be replaced by a comfort and now a confidence.

"Great thanks Doc", Jane hopped up forgetting her shoulder was still healing. She quickly grabbed it and bent slightly double. "Ow, oops", Maura was at Janes side before she realised; placing a comforting hand on her back whilst supporting Janes athletic frame.

"Can I get you some painkillers?", Jane straightened up finally and Maura stepped back reluctantly.

"No thanks, I've got some", Jane paused whilst gingerly putting her coat on; Maura followed her gaze to the floor. "How the hell do you walk round in shoes like that all day?", Maura laughed out loud; Susie always complained about her choose of footwear in the work place.

"Gel inserts. Believe me, once you're used to wearing heels in an environment like this you can't go back", Maura finished up the paperwork before gesturing for Jane to head out the cubicle first.

"Well thanks Dr. Isles, hopefully I'll see you Again in a few weeks", Jane headed down the corridor quickly. Maura finally relaxed against the nurses station, with one last glance down the corridor she caught Jane looking back; albeit briefly Jane had definitely just checked her out. Once again heels had been the better choice of footwear.

Suddenly Susie appeared. "Want to get lunch?".

"Yeah sure", Maura retrieved her purse from her pocket before pausing as a thought entered her mind. " would you say Frankie was a boys name or girls name?", Susie frowned as the two headed towards the canteen.

"Both i guess, why do you ask?"

"Oh no reason just curious", the comfortable silence was maintained as the two friends queued for lunch. Maura suddenly remembered something else and a crazy thought entered her head she wasn't ready to dismiss straight away. Something that could get her into trouble professionally and in her private life.

"Susie, do you know where the dirty robber is?"

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	4. Chapter 4

This was a stupid idea. Maura had been pacing up and down her living room for the past half an hour. It was seven pm, John would be home soon she had to make a decision now or it would be too late. What was she even thinking? She can't actually go through With it. She was definitely torn between doing what she wanted and doing what she should do. Her mind jumped from going through with it to laughing at how ridiculous the idea was.

In the end she reasoned it was a simple choice, do something for herself for a change or go make dinner for her and John.

She lay face down on the bed now, resigned to the continuing indecision. Something dawned on her, she was not happy living like this. Surely her happiness was her own responsibility. Besides, John would never find out.

Maura leapt up, quickly sprinting to her closet. She would finally have chance to wear one of new dresses, a little Dolce and Gabbana number perhaps with her signature killer heels to match.

Maura was ready and at the door within quarter of an hour, the fastest she had ever got ready for a night out. Her hand clasped the handle for a long time, she finally stopped to think. What would she say if she saw her? Would it seem weird her turning up in the exact same place at the same time and all alone. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

The sound of a car on the driveway spurred her on. She was out of the door and half way down the drive before John even got out of the car.

"Where you off too in such a hurry?", John tried to catch up.

"Just out with Susie, it's someone's birthday at work", Maura hated lying to him but she was heading down this road now.

"Oh okay well I guess I'll see you later", John seemed down after she said that but Maura didn't linger. She still needed to get a taxi and she only had half an hour to get across town.

Just over half an hour later, Maura was sat at the bar of a small establishment called the dirty robber. From what she could gather it was popular with the Boston police department.

Again her mind wandered to how bad this whole idea of hers was.

It had just flicked over to nine o'clock, it was now or never. Maura took a look around the bar, she couldn't see Jane in the now busy room.

Maura downed her drink, this was a stupid ridiculous Idea and no good would ever come of it. How would she explain her presence? She turned to leave, routing in her bag for taxi fare.

Suddenly she was knocked back by someone walking straight into her, Maura was just about to apologise profusely when she looked directly into a very familiar pair of deep brown eyes.

Maura was speechless, what was she going to do now?!

"Dr. Isles, what are you doing here?", Jane was smiling which Maura took as a good sign. She couldn't help but feel at ease.

"Call me Maura please"

"So, whatcha doing here Maura?", she loved how jane said her name.

"Well I was supposed to meet a friend but she cancelled last minute", Maura had come up with a very convincing story in the taxi over here.

"Oh that sucks. Well if you want you could join me and my friends. Unless that's against the rules you being my doctor and everything", Maura wasn't sure if Jane was flirting or just being polite. She had no experience of talking to women like this.

"Well we're not in a hospital now are we", Maura smiled and consciously raised a suggestive eyebrow. Maybe women would be the same as men in this situation.

"Great, everyone's just over there. Let me grab you a drink and I'll introduce you to everyone. My brother Frankie will love you", Maura was both relieved and confused. On one hand, Frankie was a man and Janes and this was a good thing but on the other Jane suggested she would get along very well with him which further suggested Jane was not interested in her. After her internal rant, she followed Jane to the table and realised this was going to be an eventful evening.

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